German 3:55 Video Online

wow. I knew he wasn't pushed during the race, but I didn't realize he had a 10m lead 200m in. Great race by a seemingly great young athlete.

Thassa Bad Kitty wrote:

First he would have needed to be in the finals, and no matter what time you post coming in that is no guarantee. History is full of those lessons which is why it's a shame he wasn't there for the experience of qualifying for a final and the whole game that goes on with that.

I hope you're kidding. Qualifying would have been a joke. The slowest mile German has run in a mile race in the past nine months is 3:56. A 4:01 would be a tempo pace for the kid. Screw the whole "experience of qualifying and the whole game that goes on with that." He's so good right now that he could have just run 3:58 in qualifying (no one would go with him), then run 3:55 again in the final, no one staying within a second. Then probably come back to get outkicked by Rupp in the 3k, both running 7:40-7:42 or so. Emanuel can not beat German right now. It's easier to have a lot of energy to kick off of when you split 3:05 than when you split 2:55.

Hatesauce McDislike wrote:

Could the guys recording this be any more annoying?

I found it annoying, too, but you've gotta realize that they cover these meets partly 'cause it's their job, but more 'cause they're huge fans. What they were witnessing had never been done before, and it would be awfully hard to stay collected and quiet when you realize that - just for the hell of it - an 18-year old freshman is on pace for the collegiate record. I'm sorry, but no distance fan could have kept a steady hand on the camera while filming that. Totally unexpected.

Catch Me If You Can wrote:

I found it annoying, too, but you've gotta realize that they cover these meets partly 'cause it's their job . . .

I think those were just friends who sent in their video.

Catch Me If You Can wrote:

I hope you're kidding. Qualifying would have been a joke. The slowest mile German has run in a mile race in the past nine months is 3:56.

You know there were prelims for big 12s right? He ran a 4:06.29.

Catch Me If You Can wrote:

no distance fan could have kept a steady hand on the camera while filming that.

Agreed. Use of a tripod would be helpful.

cah87 wrote:

Catch Me If You Can wrote:

I hope you're kidding. Qualifying would have been a joke. The slowest mile German has run in a mile race in the past nine months is 3:56.

You know there were prelims for big 12s right? He ran a 4:06.29.

http://www.flashresults.com/2009_Meets/indoor/Big12Indoor/Results-028-01.pdf

My bad.

Wow, this kid get's more credit for things he's nowhere near proven. German could barely outkick Coe over 3,000. Rupp convincinly dropped coe on a 1600 AFTER his 5K where he dropped a 1:55 on the last half while letting down the last 100. He was on pace for 1:54 or better despite not starting his move till 750 to go.

Rupp easily distanced himself on the 1600 spliting :54 low and again letting down at the end. If he had to for the win he would have been at :53.

German and Coe are much more mile-3K guys than Rupp so when Rupp comes down to the mile and lays it down like that that's out of his range. It's a 5K-10K specialist who is just so good that he beats you at your specialty.

German is good, but he does not finish like Rupp does.

Where the f$ck do you think German comes in and suddenly has more speed and strength than Rupp?

German is really amazing for a freshman, but you have got to wake up a bit. German is somewhere between Rupp and Coe for 3K, and more on the level of Coe.

Biggest Championship Races in German\'s Career:

2007 Footlocker - Long Distant 3rd

2008 Jr. Worlds - 25th

2008 NCAA XC - 7th/8th prior to getting spiked 7.5K into the race

Every one of these races showed superstar power going in. Leaves a bit of question.

I for one hope to hell he improves this record, but the best way to do it is stick your nose in it and change it. Blind fans don\'t get you championship titles.

Edit:

Biggest Races of German's career:

2007 Footlocker - 3rd

2008 US JR XC - 1st

2008 WJXC - 25th - great race for 8:55 3200m runner at time.

2008 Outdoor Nationals - 1st 8:34 HSR!

2008 NCAA XC Championships - 4th place prior to injury

2009 US JR XC - 1st

What trend is there to reverse, really?

German-aide wrote:

this kid get's more credit

"gets"

[quote]editor wrote:

Edit:

Biggest Races of German's career:

"2007 Footlocker Nationals - 3rd"

1 14:50 Michael Fout 12 MW LaPorte H.S. LaPorte IN

2 14:57 Christopher Derrick 12 MW Neuqua Valley H.S. Naperville IL

3 15:09 German Fernandez 12 WE Riverbank H.S. Riverbank CA

4 15:12 Colby Lowe 12 SO Carroll Senior H.S. Southlake TX

5 15:15 Luke Puskedra 12 WE Judge Memorial H.S. Ogden UT

(This is a pretty big dud after the 14:24 Record at Woodward and an easy 15 second win over Puskedra at Regionals, but then this was THE national meet with all the players).

"2008 US JR XC - 1st"

Yes, a mid winter cross country race in San Diego that everyone is training for. No Fout, No Derrick, No Lowe, No Puskedra. The usual watered down college freshman that you see at junior national championships, a lot of them training in snow at this point.

"2008 WJXC - 25th - great race for 8:55 3200m runner at time."

First, he was MUCH better than just an 8:55 3200 meter runner last year at this time:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2398727

2nd, this race isn't so much about what you can run on the track for 2 miles at the time, it's what you can run for 8K cross country. German had already run 14:24 for 5K cross country on a course where most 8:50 2 milers run around 14:50-14:55 so he was clearly already better than 8:55 if you need a 2 mile comparison. Too indulge more into your 2 mile comparson, I don't believe Ritz had a blazing 2 mile PR going into his 3rd place finish at JR worlds as a high schooler. German was a top 15 contender at worst last year, but finished 25th. How many of those guys ahead of him ran 8:34 for 2 miles last summer (or faster than 7:55 for 3K)?

You can check here:

http://www.iaaf.org/wxc08/results/eventCode=3889/sex=M/discCode=XJ/combCode=hash/roundCode=f/results.html#det

It includes times they ran in the summer much like German.

For reference, this ethiopian placed 4 spots ahead of German and ran an 8:06 3K in Torino in June of last summer, about the time German split 7:59 en route to his 8:34 two mile. He beat German by 17 seconds at world cross.

http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/country=ETH/athcode=240696/index.html

2008 Outdoor Nationals - 1st 8:34 HSR!

This is referenced above and actually proves my point further about his dissapointment at world junior cross. In this race he had one competitor that should not have beat German. Again, no Fout and no Derrick making this essentially a time trial for German. Listing time trials is counter productive in building a case against mine which is: his track record at the big ones is lacking. This would be like listing a conference championship for Galen Rupp in the 10K. Duhh, it's should be an easy win.

2008 NCAA XC Championships - 4th place prior to injury

This is just a technicality, but he was actually in 6th trailing Puskedra, Biwott and Kinsell with Derrick and others in the group.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=german+fernandez&hl=en&emb=0&aq=0&oq=german+fer#q=german+fernandez+ncaa&hl=en&emb=0

Not exactly the kind of races he was having earlier in the season and certainly never a threat to challenge Rupp or Chelanga. Best case scenario for this one was a distant 3rd.

2009 US JR XC - 1st

Refer back to 2008 US JR XC for the significance of winning a cross country meet in the us with any title in the middle of February, especially when your main competition is focussed on indoor track. He did win this and he won it impressively, but this is a qualifier race in every sense. This just proves once again that he is an amazing talent and SHOULD go big in the meets that matter most. This is another mid season amazing performance by German.

The 3 meets that he has competed in that can compare to an NCAA chamionship were:

Footlocker

World JRs

NCAA XC

It does not matter how many records he sets or how many other races he wins/dominates, how strong his doubles are if he can't do it at these type of races. It amazes me that people can witness the athletic feats that he has done and then come up with excuses for the big meet drops.

German needs to worry far less about setting records and far more about competing under pressure and rising above it at those rare championship meets where he has a worthy adversary or more. It's great if Alan Webb can set the American record in the mile and two mile, but how about a medal in a major championship? How about winning US championships for that matter. Some of you youngsters out there are so awestruck by his times that you think he somehow can will himself to anything he wants. That with a truck load of talent will get you to the major championships. Nerve and execution (very different skills) will win them.

Yawn,

German's priorities his senior year were:

1) the Cal state meets

2) the 2-mile record

You can argue it should have been footlocker, but it was not (for he and his coach). He wanted the state meets, because those are very prestigious in Cal. Everyone wants to do well there. He probably did not know just how good he was went making those goals. So FL was just an afterthought.

He went all out at the Cal State XC meet, putting everything on the line. He did the same at the track meet. Those were his targets for that year. He pointed everything at peaking for those, and the results were amazing.

Likewise, he wanted a good NCAA cross, but he was also following his coaches orders and running a team race. The plan was for a slow start, runs in groups, work their way up, and then for each to put the hammer down the last 1-2km if they could. He was just about to attempt it when he went down. It pretty pointless to try to guess what could have been since we will never know.

All indications are is that he is now pointing to World XC as one of his goals for this year. This will be another meet to judge how he does in a race he is pointing for. Unless he gets sick, injured, or something, I expect that he will run well. We shall see.

Judging him on 2-3 races at the age of 18 is just plain silly. His big races are ahead of him, not behind. If he cares about FL, or 2009 NCAA indoor 5-10 years from now, then he will have been a failure.

At 18 he has run some outrageously crazy times, and he still has a lot of races to run before he turns 19. If not for the silly junior age rules, he could probably set a pretty high bar for USA juniors to reach. He still might for the 3 and 5k.

For the USA, only Webb and Jim Ryun, and Lindgren were this good, this young. So far, he looks like a much better racer than Webb, and has better range than Ryun, and a more stable personality than Gerry.

It's probably not fair to say German is in quite the same league as the 3 above. He might be, but he needs to run some outdoor meets first. If he does 13:35 and 7:47, then he not quite there. He's in Rupp's league (at that age). If he does a sub 13:30 and sub 7:45, then along with his 3:55 he is. Something tells me he is, but we won't know until he does it.

dork wrote:For the USA, only Webb and Jim Ryun, and Lindgren were this good, this young. So far, he looks like a much better racer than Webb, and has better range than Ryun, and a more stable personality than Gerry.

Internationally, he is taller than Bekele, friendlier than Ovett, speaks better English than Geb, and is more disciplined than Rono.

German-aide wrote:

No Fout, No Derrick, No Lowe, No Puskedra.

Since you've not noticed, he is trouncing all of them now.

Not disputing that he wasn't the favorite here.

So let me get this right? Because he eventually ran faster than those guys later on (faster rate of improvement) he should have beaten them then. Well he REALLY choked because since then he has run 7:47! But really, you have to look to races before this race, not his monumental rise after. Had he run 8:34 leading up to the meet, it would be a diffferent story. But he didn't. Therefore, no need to check the what the other guys eventually ran.

Despite what you want to believe, this race had an enormous amount of pressure. Many thought Puskedra could challenge and not only was the German the favorite, he was expected to break an elusive record.

That video just shows him on the ground. I believe you wanted:

. But no big deal, it's wash like you said. 4th-10th is all the same in that group.

Which why I don't know why you can say it is a bad race up until that point? Because he got injured? Or because he was 10 seconds back 1500m before this clip? Making up ground is a good thing. I think he was expected to get third best. At no point in the season did he look more impressive than either Chelanga or Rupp.

Not to change this into a Webb debate. But he won 3 US titles in the 1500m.

German-aide, seriously, you're clearly a major douche. There is no way you have any friends.

This thread shows a guy who ran 3:55.02 by himself. No one in NCAA history has run that fast in any meet, ever. AAAAND, though you are clearly not smart enough to notice, he is also a BEAST over longer distances. Puskedra and Derrick KNOW they cannot run with him over any distance.

At NCAAs he was literally less than a second from 3rd place when he fell. A mile earlier he was about 50th. THAT WAS THEIR PLAN!! Fine- didn't work. Don't be an idiot though. It's not like he was hanging on to the pack. He caught it with ease, and would have destroyed it like he did Derrick and Puskedra at USA Juniors.

AAAAAND, to prove that you either dumb or young...or both...you say "I don't believe Ritz had a blazing 2-Mile PR going into his 3rd at Juniors." Actually, he did. He ran 8:41.10 3200m his junior year.

He must have watched Jim Ryun's 3:51 before racing. I haven't seen this kind of front running in the mile since Filbert Bayi. The logic of this tactics is very sound: there are probaby 3 people in the NCAAs capable of 3:55 and he guarantees himself a podium spot just by going for it instead of leaving it to chance.

Agreed with the above poster.

And there may not even be 3. Chelanga doesn't have the speed, no way. Rupp, yes, but he's still 2-3 seconds off. Ulrey was clearly not himself that day. Emmanuel, doubtful, 4:00 is a different universe than 3:55 even though he had a nice kick.

German would have won the mile had he not massively choked, which is highly unlikely. An injury at XC nats is a different story, s don't cite that an a choke.

In terms of living up to pressure, German is actually better than you might think. True there was Footlockers, but him and Derrick were co-favorites. And at that point I think Derrick was a better 5k runner, having broken the IL state XC record, ran 8:54 the previous year, and 13:55 early outdoor season. Derrick was also peaking for that week, as Nike Team nationals was the prior week. As for Fout, he just had the race of his life and took everyone by surprise. He partially made up for the disapointment at Jr XC nats, and 25th at Worlds, a meet far past his peak, was a very solid result.

I think the pressure of NON and the 2 mile record had to be enormous. People were speculating up to 8:28 and pretty much everyone expected a national record. Plus, though its known most commonly as his "2 mile record" run, it was also a straight up national championship over Puskedra, who ran 8:49i and competed at Prefontaine Classic; Lowe, who was having a great season and aiming for 8:40; and Finnerty, who had run 4:01y and many predicted to be close to 8:40 himself.

Also, a relatively minor thing, but many have insinuated that German "barely" outkicked Coe. This is a misleading statement, though its true he won by mere tenths. German led the majority of the race, and when Coe made his move, German sat on him and blew by him the last 50 even though Coe swung wide (a fair move). German would have won by more, but due to his inexperience he let up at the line and Coe gained some ground. The fact is though, German's acceleration at the end of races is pretty impressive and I think his kick is underrated.

Also, German was sick for that race according to an interview he did the next day, where he certainly looked sick.

German could have challenged Rupp in the 3k. I'm not saying he's better than Rupp at the 3k, but Rupp was clearly a little fatigued and not at full strength, while German has shown a remarkable ability to double. I think German would have taken the 3k in 7:45 or so.

Obviously we can't hand any titles to German as he made the decision to forgo NCAA's, but I think he is entirely deserving of all the hype he gets. He has given reason for us to hope and think that he could realistically run 13:1x this year.

I have seen Steve Holman go right to the front and run solo 3:36 but be beat in a championship to lesser runners.